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Thursday

It’s probably safe to say that Windows 8 has garnered mixed reactions from its user-base. But where elements like the Start Screen have received some backlash, one dainty new feature that is praised is the lock screen. The lock screen showcases the current time and date, along with the Wi-Fi signal strength.You can customize its background and have certain apps display notifications on it. Apart from this, there isn’t much to tinker with, but it seems third-party apps are soon going to remedy that. Enter TuneUp IncrediLock, a Windows Store app that lets you add widgets to the lock screen. Even though IncrediLock only lets you add sticky notes at the moment, additional widgets are likely to be added later down the road. What’s more, you can browse and apply about 400 gorgeous lock screen wallpapers.

TuneUp IncrediLock is a lightweight app (around 1MB in size). You can hit the link provided at the end of the review to download the app from the Windows Store, or open the Store from the Start Screen, and type the app’s name to search for it manually.

The app wears a simple, effective and user-friendly interface. The main screen dislplays the pictures library (containing downloadable images and those in your local storage). As mentioned earlier, there are tons of wallpapers that you can download. These are organized into categories (Animals, Around the Globe, City Scene and Architecture, Technology, etc.) for easier browsing.

Upon opening a wallpaper, punch the “Set as my new lockscreen” option at the lower left corner to apply the image as your lock screen background.

After selecting the background, you are ready to apply the widget. As mentioned earlier, the app currently only includes a Sticky Note widget. Moreover, you can add only a single note to the screen.

Take a look at the shot below. This is how the lock screen appears when you’re done applying the wallpaper and adding the note widget.

All in all, TuneUp IncrediLock is a handy app to have on your Windows 8 PC or tablet. It might only include one widget right now, but the description on the app’s Windows Store page states that more, such as picture frame and weather info widgets, are around the corner. We’re hoping future versions of the app will also allow adding more than one widget of each kind to the lock screen.